Leah Watters and another employee of Watts Media had wrapped up a meeting with a client on Dec. 4, and were just debriefing around their meeting table, located on the second floor of the Majestic Building, when they suddenly smelled smoke.

“It happened so fast,” she recalled. “We started smelling almost-burning brakes.”

“I opened up the door to the hallway and the hallway was just filled with smoke.”

Watters, her coworker and a couple other people who were in nearby offices all rushed out the back stairs together.

The ensuing three-alarm fire forced the evacuation of

all the tenants of the Majestic Building, and shut down a block of Bijou Street for much of the day.

Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesperson Ashley Franco told The Gazette that there were no injuries reported from the fire. As of Friday, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Some portions of the building have come back into use. On the southern end of the building, along the alleyway, the bar Shame & Regret, along with To the Grave Tattoo, have already reopened, as has the UPS store on the western end of Bijou. The businesses closer to the northeast corner of the L-shaped building, and those on the second floor, have not been as lucky. Retailers Yobel and The Local Honey Co. both report that much of their

“... we feel very fortunate, because photo and video isn’t our only revenue stream. We’re honestly more hurt for the retail businesses on the first floor.” Leah Watters, Watters and Watts Media

stock was too damaged by soot and smoke to sell. Taste of Jerusalem suffered significant damage and does not have a reopening date yet.

On Friday, the Icons nightclub Instagram account posted a video announcing the business would remain closed through at least Dec. 18 for smoke and soot mitigation.

“We have 14 employees that are out of work right before the holidays, and it’s pretty horrific,” says one of the owners in the video.

For Watters and Watts Media, the road to reopening their physical space will take longer.

“At least for our office, the doors were broken down, holes punched in the drywall with some scorch marks,” Watters said.

She hopes most of the damage is just superficial, and that ongoing air quality remediation and testing goes well. Until then, she says second-story tenants are only being allowed to enter their units and survey the damage if they wear N95 masks.

Building tenants are all working with their insurance companies to see what is salvageable, and what is reimbursable.

Watters hopes most of her company’s lighting and video equipment will be OK, “but we feel very fortunate, because photo and video isn’t our only revenue stream. We’re honestly more hurt for the retail businesses on the first floor.”